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How often do you have to replace your batteries in the winter?

Indus

Indus

Lifer
I'm not sure if I have a lemon or not but I've changed my car battery 12 times in the last 8 years (4 during 1 year alone) and alternator a few times too.

Yesterday I again had problems and the jumper cable didn't work, hell I didn't even have enough power left in my battery to move my gear from parking to neutral till a tow truck got there. I managed to get my car started after he provided the jump.

So if this is the only problem with a car and everything else is fine.. is it reason enough to try looking for a replacement or just replace the battery? (It only gives me problems in the cold).
 
I have a 2005 Mustang...I am on my second battery.

Something is wrong with your vehicle.
 
At that rate, you shouldn't be paying for those batteries at all. Every replacement is on the warranty period.

Alternators last a long time. My 97 wranger alternator was replaced a few year back (on it third battery 2 years ago). My 2001 BMW is still on its original alternator ( and second battery). My mom's 2005 Toyota is also on its second battery 2 years ago.

I am in the northeast so I got cold winters also. On average, it looks like the battery last around 6-8 years. When I do replace battery, I do get the best one available at the moment. For example, I used Sears diehard platinum when they were still widely available and then Sears diehard gold after that.
 
Keep in mind that summer heat is more detrimental to batteries than winter cold. There is obviously a problem somewhere. I had a neighbor ask me this same question the other day and when I went to look at her car I noticed:
1) Coffee warmer
2) Laptop charger
3) Curling wand
4) Small heater

All plugged into her two cigarette lighter plugs in a maze of wiring. I elected to only advise and suggested that she remove all these 12volt items from the car. She started to argue about how much she needed them. I then suggested that she take her car to Firestone. LOL

The moral of the story is that it is not always the battery or alternator which has the problem.
 
Indus said:
I'm not sure if I have a lemon or not but I've changed my car battery 12 times in the last 8 years (4 during 1 year alone) and alternator a few times too.
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Something has got to be wrong.
Indus said:
Yesterday I again had problems and the jumper cable didn't work, hell I didn't even have enough power left in my battery to move my gear from parking to neutral till a tow truck got there. I managed to get my car started after he provided the jump.
Click to expand...
Your battery shouldn't have anything to do with moving the gear selector 😵
Indus said:
So if this is the only problem with a car and everything else is fine.. is it reason enough to try looking for a replacement or just replace the battery? (It only gives me problems in the cold).
Click to expand...
It should at least motivate you to buy a portable jump pack, but it sounds like you have grounding issues... or something else wrong.
 
Do you let the car sit for long periods of time between driving it? Do you ever leave lights on that drain the battery fully?
 
evident said:
why would someone plug a small heater into their car?!
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To preheat the curling wand. Only thing missing from that list was an espresso machine.

I have the pleasure of checking on a dead battery back at the house in a couple hours. At least it died at the house. Must be in the water.
 
Yeah 1.5 batteries per year is crazy. I had a '91 Eclipse Turbo for about 12 years and I thought it went through batteries at an alarming rate - about every 2 years. I never had an alternator problem or other electrical issues, but the battery would go dead too often. It sucked in that car too because if the battery died mid-commute, it would die at idle. So I'd have to give it throttle when stopped or it would die in the middle of the road and I'd have to push start it.
 
The factory battery in my old 98 GM lasted 10 years.

There is something wrong with your car (or your usage of the car somehow) if you're going through that many batteries (and alternators!).
 
I use the car often but it does not have much mileage. It's only got 7000 miles on it in the last 8 years (mostly city driving) but I do drive it at least 3-4 times a week, mostly when I and my spouse go out together.

No real abuse like racing or driving 20 miles to and from work everyday, parking in Manhattan, NY is expensive so I use the subway instead.

I don't have a big heater, nor am I powering a major sound system with high volumes, just the normal air conditioner when it's hot and heat when it's cold with the defogger when it's raining.

And yes SearchMaster, that is my dilemma, the battery died on a street and I could not even move it into neutral to push it out of the way.

No accidents, no flooding damage due to Hurricane Sandy.. I get decent mileage, I don't get it, my only problem seems to be the batteries and sometimes the alternator.
 
Well to be fair, under 1000 miles a year, but driven 3-4 times a week probably means you're doing what, 2 mile runs down the road? That's probably a fair bit harder on the vehicle than 20 mile drives to work because it rarely can get up to full operating temp, it rarely gets a chance to actually fully charge the battery up, etc.
 
Sounds about right, take my wife shopping, to the movies, walmart, kmart, and out on date night.

So I should let my car run once a week for 20 minutes or something once a week? Or what's the fix?
 
I really don't know the answer to that. I've not been in that situation.

Maybe make a longer trip to the countryside every so often. See some fresh scenery 😀
 
Indus said:
Sounds about right, take my wife shopping, to the movies, walmart, kmart, and out on date night.

So I should let my car run once a week for 20 minutes or something once a week? Or what's the fix?
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Yes, it's probably your driving habits. It sounds like you are not driving it enough to keep it properly charged. You can either take it on a long trip once a week, driving it for 20 or 30 minutes, or you can use a trickle charger to keep the battery topped off.

The long trip once a week will also be good for your car in general.
 
Agreed, starting the car and the power your'e pulling while driving may be slowly removing charge faster than it's going back in, especially since batteries tend to also bleed off charge at a slow rate even when they aren't being used.

This kind of driving is also not very good for the engine, I am guessing you don't get it completely warmed up often if ever, much less drive it that way for a while. I'd be interested to know what the underside of your oil fill cap looks like.

I'd occasionally take the long way home if you can find something scenic, or at the least yes let it run for a while after you get back. A remote start could be really good here...
 
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LTC8K6 said:
Yes, it's probably your driving habits. It sounds like you are not driving it enough to keep it properly charged. You can either take it on a long trip once a week, driving it for 20 or 30 minutes, or you can use a trickle charger to keep the battery topped off.

The long trip once a week will also be good for your car in general.
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My car is barely driven. 3 miles per trip, twice a day maybe 4 days a week. Average running time is about 10 minutes. Average mileage is about 6000 miles a year.
During the winter, its always fun to see whether I get full heat by the time I reach the train station parking lot.

Occasionally we'll take it on a longer trip or generally errand where the car is actually running for more than 20 minutes.

Batteries last me 5-6 years.
 
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I had problems with my 1990s Chrysler that I used to have.

Went through batteries, starters, and eventually, the shop figured out one of the power cables connected to the batteries was shorting somewhere, and the charge was "leaking" slowly overnight ...

Driving habits might contribute to early replacement of batteries, but, this is obscene ...
 
I had problems with my 1990s Chrysler that I used to have.

Went through batteries, starters, and eventually, the shop figured out one of the power cables connected to the batteries was shorting somewhere, and the charge was "leaking" slowly overnight ...

Driving habits might contribute to early replacement of batteries, but, this is obscene ...
 
Could you tell us what car you drive and what brand battery you get? Where do you buy replacement alternator?

This is really unusual
 
eng2d2 said:
Could you tell us what car you drive and what brand battery you get? Where do you buy replacement alternator?

This is really unusual
Click to expand...


12 car batteries in 8 years (4 during 1 year alone) and multiple alternators in NYC

Had this been something that only occurred just recently I would say probably an electrical problem and the normal forum stuff after that (troubleshooting blah blah blah blah)

However 12 batteries + alternators over 8 years leads me to believe that this is the typical NYC resident who knows little about cars being swindled by dirtbag NYC mechanics.

OP
What year\make\model\trim level is your car?
Where have you been taking it for diagnosis throughout the years?
 
2001 Toyota Highlander V6, I bought it pre-owned with almost 49k mileage. Now in 2015 it's up to 56k.

I would agree on the mechanic stuff but thankfully I haven't needed it outside of the alternator/ batteries.

I still keep it serviced every 3000 miles and have another one coming up in another thousand miles.
 
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